Package for sliced bread



Feb. 18, 1969 R. R. MoRRls PACKAGE FOR SLICED BREAD Filed Feb.

INVENTOR.

United States Patent Oiice 3,428,240 Patented Feb. 18, 1969 4 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A package for a sliced loaf of bread. The package comprises an outer plastic bag and an inner wrap of waxed paper. The inner wrap is printed and includes sealed end flaps which completely enclose the bread. The inner wrap is provided with a peripheral line of perforations adjacent one end to permit the end of this inner wrap to be cornpletely removed. Other longitudinally spaced peripheral perforation bands can be provided. The outer wrap is a plain polyethylene bag having an open end adjacent to the perforated end of the inner wrapping, the polyethylene bag being releasably closed by a conventional tie formed of a strip of plastic, wire or the like.

Background of the invention The present invention relates to packages and is particularly directed to a novel package for sliced bread loaves.

'In recent years there has been a growing tendency to package sliced lloaves of bread in plastic bags. These bags are formed from polyethylene, or the like, and are of generally cylindrical shape with a closed end and an open, or mouth, end adapted to be tied closed by a exible strip of metal, plastic or the like. One of the principal advantages of these bags to the consumer is that the bags are readily resealable after a portion of the loaf has been removed. Specically, all the customer has to do is gather the endwise portion of the bag together `and twist it or rewarp the tie strip around it. This is a substantial improvement over the conventional sheet-type bread wrapper having endwise flaps; for when the sheet-type wrapper is opened, it must be opened carefully to avoid tearing the flap or it is not possible to reseal the package. Even when the aps are not torn, there is no convenient way to hold the end closed so that the end of conventional package often remains open, causing the unused bread to become stale prematurely.

On the other hand, bag-type bread packages have at least two major disadvantages for the retailer. In the rst place, it is not practicable to form and close a bag so that it tightly contines the slices of bread. Rather, these slices are free to move relative to one another within the bag. The loaf in effect becomes limp and the individual slices tend to separate from one another and to lie at various angles Within the bag. As a result, it is not feasible to stack a number of these loaves on a display rack. In many cases where this has been attempted, the loaves have :become squashed in appearance. Not only is the retailer faced with the difliculty in stacking loaves of bread packaged in bags, but the appearance of these loaves, because of the disarray of the slices and possible squashing, is not attractive to many consumers.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel bread package elective to combine the best features of both wrapper-type and bag-type .bread packages.

More particularly, the present package comprises an inner wrapping and an outer bag. The outer container is preferably a cylindrical plastic bag having a closed end and an open, or mouth end. The inner wrapping is a sheet-type wrapping formed of wax paper, or the like. This inner wrapping completely encases the loaf and rmly contines it in the same manner as a conventional wrapping. lIn accordance with the present invention, the inner wrapping is provided with at least one line of perforations extending completely around the periphery of the wrapping adjacent to the end of the wrapping fdisposed near the mouth of the bag. The outer bag is closed over the inner wrapping by means of a conventional tie strip of wire, plastic or the like.

One advantage of this package is that the loaf is rmly maintained in its original conformation by the inner wrap so that the individual slices are held in position. As a result, the loaves can be stacked during shipment and on retail display racks without Squashing the individual slices. Moreover, the entire package is quite attractive to consumers.

Another advantage of the present package is that the bread is kept in an optimum condition of freshness. When shipped, the bread is doubly protected, i.e. is sealed in both an inner and an Outer wrap. Moreover, the consumer can readily remove one or more slices and can then reseal the package to maintain the bread fresh for several days. To do this, the consumer merely removes the tie to open the plastic bag. The entire end panel of the inner package is separated by pulling it outwardly. The panel tears easily along the line of perforations and is discarded. The user then reaches inwardly through the open mouth of the bag and withdraws the number of slices desired. The remaining slices are held in stacked relationship by the remaining sleeve portion of the inner wrapper. The outer plastic bag is resealed by twisting or by retying the tie strip to protect the unused bread.

A still lfurther advantage of the present invention is that it provides greater exibility to the retailer for marking prices and the like. More particularly, the present outer wrapper is clear, while the inner wrapping is printed. The ends of the inner wrapper can also carry `a large label. Thus, it is much easier for the retailer to establish price changes, for example during sales, since it only requires the application of a new end label rather than changing the printing on the entire outer bag.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily yapparent from a consideration of the following detailed description of the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a bread package constructed in accordance with the principles yof the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view through the center portion of the package taken along line 2 2 of FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view through the end of the package taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing the manner in which the end of the inner wrapping is removed to provide access to the packaged slices of bread.

One preferred form of bread package 10 constructed in accordance with the ypresent invention is shown in FIGURE 1. As there shown, the package encloses a conventional sliced loaf of bread. The package comprises an outer plastic bag 11 and an inner wrapping 12. The plastic bag 11 is preferably formed from a transparent ilexible plastic, such as polyethylene. The bag is of generally cylindrical configuration and includes a closed end 13, which may be formed by any suitable heat sealing techniques, and an open, or mouth, end 14. The mouth end is adapted to be closed by gathering a portion of the bag as at 15 between edge 16 of the bag and the end 18 of the inner Wrapping and tying the gathered portion with a flexible tie 17 formed of plastic, a exible metal strip, plastic covered wire, or the like.

The inner wrapping 12 is preferably formed from a sheet of waxed paper, although other sheet material, such as cellophane or the like, could be utilized. This inner wrapping completely encloses the loaf of bread and is provided with end tlaps 19 which are heat sealed or are joined by separate end labels to form two closed ends 18 of the inner wrapping. It is to be understood that the inner wrapping 12 is applied in a conventional wrapping machine and is effective to support the sliced loaf of bread rmly in its normal conguration with the slices stacked in an upright position against one another and restrained against tilting, endwise or sideways movement.

In accordance with the Ipresent invention, a line of perforations 21 is formed in the inner wrap and extends completely around the periphery of the inner wrap closely adjacent to the end 18 exposed to the mouth 14 of the outer wrap. This line of perforations 21 is formed in the inner wrap by initially providing a line of perforations spaced inwardly from, and parallel to, one edge of the flat sheet from which the wrappers are formed. It is contemplated that, if desired, one or more additional lines of perforations 23 can be provided in wrapping 12 spaced longitudinally, for example at three inch intervals, from perforations 21 at the end of the inner wrapping 12. Each of these additional bands of perforation would likewise extend completely about the periphery of the inner wrap- -ping in a plane transverse to the axis of a loaf of bread.

In use, the loaf of bread is wrapped in the inner waxed paper wrapping in a conventional manner. The sides of the waxed paper wrapping are preferably printed with suitable advertising indicia as indicated generally at 22. Additionally, one or more -printed end labels (not shown) can be applied to ends 18 of the inner wrapper. The wrapped loaf of bread is then inserted in a plain plastic bag, such as plastic bag 11, and the open end of the bag is closed by twisting tie 17. The loaf of bread at this point is doubly protected, i.e. it is protected by the inner waxed wrapping and by the outer plastic bag. Moreover, the sliced loaf is firmly held in its regular loaf conformation. As a result, a series of loaves can be stacked for shipment and on the grocers display shelves. They will retain their normal loaf appearance and individual slices will not be squashed.

When the loaf is to be opened by the consumer, the consumer lirst unfastens tie 17 in the normal manner. This provides access through the full-width open mouth 14 of the plastic bag 11 as shown in FIGURE 4. Next, the exposed end 18 of the inner wrapping is grasped, for example by grasping one of the aps 19. The end of the wrapping is pulled outwardly and readily separates along the endwise line of perforations 21. This lremoved endwise ap portion is discarded.

The user can then reach inwardly through open mouth 14 and the open end of wrapping 12 to remove the number of slices desired. The remaining slices are retained in a stacked relationship by the sleeve-like portion of the inner wrapping. When the user has removed the number of slices desired, the outer plastic bag is resealed by gathering the end of the bag together and twisting or by reapplying tie 17.

It will be appreciated that if one or more additional bands of perforations, such as line of perforations 23, is applied, the user can also remove the endwise bands 24 of the inner wrap by pulling the band outwardly when it is desired to expose additional slices of bread for removal.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A package for a sliced loaf of bread comprising an outer generally cylindrical plastic bag having a closed end and an open end, an inner wrapping of sheet material adapted to encase a sliced loaf of bread and retain the loaf in its original configuration, said inner wrapper being congurated to include a side wall and two closed ends, a line of perforations extending around the periphery of the side wall of the wrapping closely adjacent to one end of the wrapping, the inner wrapping being disposed within the outer plastic bag with the end of the inner wrapping having the line of perforations disposed adjacent to the mouth of the bag, and tie means for releasably tying the mouth of the bag.

2. The package of claim 1 in which said bag is a transparent polyethylene bag and the inner wrapping is waxed paper, the side walls of said wrapper being printed.

3. The package of claim 1 in which the end portions of said inner wrapping are closed by llaps.

4. The `package of claim 1 in which said inner wrapping is further provided with a second line of perforations extending about the periphery of said inner wrapper in a plane parallel to the plane of said rst line of perforations but spaced therefrom.

References vCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,092,502 6/1963 Smith 229-87 3,132,028 5/1964 Austin et al. 229-87 3,182,893 5/1965 Brernkamp 229-87 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner.

U.S. C1. X.R. 

